Monday, 30 March 2009

The Wisdom that binds Eh and Wam

Tashi Explains..... This beautiful character Eh-Vam in Sanskrit, Eh-Wam in Tibetanཨེ་ཝཾ་, has always enchanted me, seemingly shrouded in magic and mystery, it has become a favorite subject centre piece for a number of my own art works and intrigues me to solve its riddle. I have yet to learn its origin and would be delighted if anybody could share this with me. But here is a small token to bring about a littler more awareness of this powerful monogram, as there seems to be very little written on it, from what i can find.

I was first of all captured by its depth and wisdom, when during the 80'sH E Situ Rinpochegave a teaching explicitly about the Eh-Wam symbol. He explained the meaning and the interrelationship between the 'Eh'ཨེ་ and the 'Wam'ཝཾ་ Which first of all translates as Means/method and Wisdom/Knowledge. He then went on to explain:

ཨེ་is a container,ཝཾ་is the togetherness.

ཨེ་is space,ཝཾ་is the galaxy.

ཨེ་is all, and ཝཾ་is one of all.

ཨེ་is the whole solar system, ཝཾ་is the earth.

ཨེ་is the whole earth, thenཝཾ་is the sentient beings.

ཨེ་is all the sentient beings,ཝཾ་ is the tsa, lung and tigli.

ཨེ་is the tsa, lung and tigli, ཝཾ་is the mind.

ཨེ་is present state of mind,ཝཾ་ is the essence its self.

When we achieve realization until the 10th level Bodhisattva, until that very last moment of the path, that is theཨེ་. The last moment to achieve the realization becomes no different between the wisdom its self, that is theཝཾ་, in this wayཨེ་and Wam can be experienced, this is why theཨེ་ཝཾ་is a very great meaningful symbol.

Another source of the use of Eh-Vam is that it is the first words used in nearly allSutras/Sutta, which in Sanskrit begin "evan maya srutam" = "thus I have heard". Evamsimply meaning "thus". This is explained very clearly by Jayarava in his illuminating'visible mantra'website.

and more....

Being a calligrapher, i was interested in the construction of the symbol, below i have explained my findings.

The more lesser known Eh-Wam Style character (shown on the left) seems to be a combination of theWartuSanskrit style script.

This is a monogram of the two Wartu letters 'Eh' and 'Wam', shown on the right.

The more well known Eh-Wam symbol, shown on the right, is associated with Tibetan Buddhist organizations, such as Rigpaand popular with the LateChogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, this is a combination of two letters 'Eh' and 'Wam' from theLansaSanskrit style, these two separate letters are shown by the example here above left, which also shows the equivalent in Tibetan, below which is written the translation 'means and wisdom'.

This way of adjoining Sanskrit letters in combination clusters is used for popular Buddhist mantras. The best known of these monograms is theKalachakraseed syllable, which like the Eh-Vam monogram, is respected for its powerful blessing, which often grace the walls in the elaborate Tibetan temple decoration.

It is also said that these particular monograms, such as the Kalachakra and the Eh-vam, that placed high on the out side of buildings such as temples, is effective as a protection and even has an influence on the elements, in bringing harmony to the environment, this was explained to me byAkong Tulku Rinpoche.

"What the world needs more than anything is bodhisattvas, active servants of peace, “clothed,” as Longchenpa said, “in the armor of perseverance,” dedicated to their bodhisattva vision and to the spreading of wisdom into all reaches of our experience. We need bodhisattva lawyers, bodhisattva artists and politicians, bodhisattva doctors and economists, bodhisattva teachers and scientists, bodhisattva technicians and engineers, bodhisattvas everywhere, working consciously as channels of compassion and wisdom at every level and in every situation of society; working to transform their minds and actions and those of others, working tirelessly in the certain knowledge of the support of the buddhas and enlightened beings for the preservation of our world and for a more merciful future"

Artist of contemporary Tibetan calligraphy and iconography

Tashi is an Englishman who set out on his path in the arts and meditation at the tender age of 11. Shortly after he finished his formal art degree training, he became a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan Karma Kagyu order. For the next 17 years he studied under a Tibetan master of arts called Sherab Palden Beru, apprenticing in the elaborate art of temple decoration and Tibetan calligraphy. In his finishing years as a monk, Tashi studied under a master of the rare ancient Sanskrit forms, namely Lantsa and Wartu in Dharamsala.
Since the beginning of the Millennium, Tashi has been actively creative in Tibetan calligraphy and iconography, established as an internationally known artist.
This blog is to share knowledge on Tibetan related scripts, upholding the integrity of their ancient heritage, through a concern in conservation and preservation and to communicate Dharma; is very much at the heart of Tashi's work as an artist.